Instant Pot Chipotle Brisket

This Instant Pot Chipotle Brisket is a flavorful protein that you can have on your table with little effort! It's a great option to feed a group or for your week of meal prep efforts.

Before we get to this beautiful beef, I have a mini pregnancy update …

I just had my first pregnancy-related “oh gosh, did I hurt her?!?!?” moment the other day. What an awful, awful feeling. Though I've now come through the other side of fear (made possible by semi-obsessive research), it still stunk. Here's the story …my husband and I were leaving our home of San Antonio, TX to meet his family in Asheville, NC for a week of fun in the cool mountains. While walking bleary-eyed through the San Antonio Airport at 5:30 a.m., I didn't fuss much when I realized that my TSA Pre-Check hadn't shown up on my ticket. I shrugged and just decided that I'd walk through the normal line with my hubby. Saying all this to just set the mental stage that I was OFF my usual game.

I walked where I was told to walk, took the things out my bag that I was asked to take out, removed my shoes, and walked straight into the full body scanner and out the other side. It wasn't until I was putting my shoes back on and tucking my laptop back in my big purse that my heart hit the floor …full body scanner, WHAT DID I DO? A distant memory of those scanners being not-great for pregnant and trying-to-get-pregnant ladies surfaced from the depths and I started to feel terrible. Did I hurt her? What does this mean?

I know there are probably seasoned parents reading this who are thinking that this is no big deal, especially for a one-off instance. Please know that I am NOT here to say what is or is not a universal big deal …I just want to share this story of my first time experiencing a kind of parenting-related panic.

It was such a roller coaster of emotions. My panic turned to guilt, guilt turned to worry, and then, eventually, worry transformed back into trust (in grace). I KNOW she will be okay and I know that my best is all I can offer. There are going to be things that I miss, things that surprise me, and things that I can/could-have-done better. I also know that every single mom I've met carries around her own unique bag of (what she perceives as) missteps. I know that children are AMAZING, wonderful little people who have an incredible ability to soak up the good and find resilience around the rest.

She's going to be okay and I'm going to encounter this again …and again, and again. ESPECIALLY, when I'm sleep-deprived and distracted by a sweet little baby. I guess all of this is to say that I'm thankful. I'm thankful to have had this parenting panic-related ice broken over something relatively benign. I'm thankful that I was able to work through the roller coaster of emotions (felling them all, but eventually finding trust again) relatively quickly. I'm thankful to know that this adventure isn't going to be perfect, but that my best is a perfect calling.

Now that I have THAT off my chest, are you ready for a hard left-hand turn into Instant Pot Chipotle Brisket land? Ha!

This brisket is so, so good, y'all! I've been committed to bringing you more Instant Pot recipes and thought that a brisket would make a great candidate, seeing as how I had 4 of them in my deep freeze. The method is really simple, but the finished product is impressive. All you need is a 3 to 4 pound trimmed beef brisket and some kind of chipotle chili powder. I used this “taco seasoning” by Primal Palate Spices for the beef and it worked perfectly! It contains a good amount of chipotle chili powder and sea salt (plus a few other great spices). Note, if you don't use this spice blend, be sure to season your beef with a little extra salt before cooking.

Before I get too far into the instructions of how this recipe comes together, I want to get the non-Instant Pot familiar up to speed. The Instant Pot is a SUPER handy new-ish kitchen tool! It's essentially a fancy, but affordable multi-cooker. It is part pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. You can sear meat and then cook it to tasty, quick perfection. You can order your very own Instant Pot from Amazon right HERE, if you like!

Okay, back to this recipe. The trick is to cut your brisket into about 3-inch size pieces so that you can fit a few pieces in the bottom of the Instant Pot (for a sear) at a time. After the brisket is cut, rub each side LIBERALLY with the seasoning you've picked. Melt your favorite cooking fat in the bottom of the Instant Pot (I used bacon fat) and then sear each side of the seasoned brisket until it's nicely browned. Move the browned pieces to a separate bowl and repeat for the rest of the batch. Once finished browning, transfer all the beef back into the pot and add the water. Use the programing available (details below) to cook on high pressure for about 100 minutes, finishing with the quick-release nozzle.

Remove the beef from the water, slice against the grain, garish with additional sea salt (I've found that Instant Pot proteins need more salt) and the optional cilantro.

Instructions

Season brisket with chipotle powder by making sure it's applied liberally and rubbed into all sides. Once the fat is melted, add the beef to Instant Pot in two batches, searing brisket for 2-3 minutes per side until browned. Note: searing the beef all at once will cause overcrowding and will prevent the beef from browning nicely.

Once all beef is browned, add all pieces back to the pot along with water.

Close the instant pot, making sure the valve is set to "sealing" rather than "venting." Hit the "meat/stew" button and adjust to cook for 70 minutes.

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4 Responses to “Instant Pot Chipotle Brisket”

HI Cassy! I’m reading and loving your book. I’m trying your crock pot chicken tonight in fact. I read what you said about eating 3 meals a day. I eat a fairly large breakfast but I barely make it to 11am (I eat breakfast at 7am) before I’m starving. What more should I be eating? I’m eating about 3 eggs with lots of broccoli, some fats, fruit. Thanks!

Totally understand about the scanner, I’m an xray tech and even I would have panicked after I had done it!! Like you said though, really nothing to worry about, it’s just that all-consuming “what have I done??” panic that takes over! Welcome to momhood, you’re already amazing!

Tried this recipe tonight and will agree, the flavor is outstanding! I continue to struggle (same challenges with my crockpot) with a dry brisket (or pot roast or pork or … you name it). If the meat is dry did I cook it for too long — not long enough? I’ve had my pressure cooker xl for over a year and continue to be scared away!

Hey Holly! After some additional testing we’ve actually found that one of the keys to keeping the meat moist in the Instant Pot is letting the pressure release naturally instead of manually. It seems to lock in the moisture just a bit more. I’ve updated the recipe here – hope it helps!

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Howdy and thank you so much for being here! My name is Cassy Joy Garcia. I'm on a mission to empower healthy lifestyle transformations through clear nutrition science, delicious recipes, and healthy mindset tips. You can find over 500 of my healthy gluten-free and Paleo recipes on this website, my healthy living podcast "Fed+Fit" in iTunes, and my signature food + fitness monthly program "The Project" via the link to my left. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter (red box below) so you don't miss anything new!

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